Film

El Super

Name: El Super
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1979
Cast: Raimundo Hidalgo-Gato, Zully Montero, Elizabeth Peña, Reynaldo Medina

Drama

A tender, funny portrait of a Cuban-American superintendent in 1970s New York, wrestling with exile, homesickness, and the weight of small humiliations. It's a character study disguised as comedy—intimate, observant, genuinely moving. For anyone who loves quiet stories about the gap between the life you wanted and the one you're living.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy small, talky comedies where the humor comes from a man's stubborn routines and the ache of being far from home, and you don't mind the jokes arriving quietly.

Skip it if you want plot momentum or a story that builds toward something; this one circles the same conversations and grievances, and its laughs are mostly low-key.

What it asks of you: Expect a slow, episodic rhythm, long stretches of hallway and kitchen talk, and a good deal of patience before anything lands.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Scarecrow1973

Two drifters form an unlikely friendship across America. Like El Super, it finds profound humanity in ordinary men, with long conversations that meander and matter. Hackman and Penn are magnificent together.

But It's slow, melancholic, and deliberately unglamorous. There's no plot to carry you—just two people talking and failing.

Five Easy Pieces1970

Jack Nicholson as a drifter avoiding connection and responsibility. Shares El Super's interest in the spaces between ambition and acceptance, with a dark comic edge and real emotional precision.

But It's abrasive and sometimes cruel. Nicholson's character isn't likeable, and the film won't soften that for you.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie1976

Cassavetes' intimate study of a small man in a neon-lit city, trapped by circumstance and his own quiet desperation. Minimalist, hypnotic, and surprisingly tender about its broken protagonist.

But It's deliberately avant-garde and fragmented. The dialogue overlaps, the framing is strange, and there's no conventional story arc to follow.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from El Super

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Intimate Lighting1965

Both are miniature portraits of men estranged from themselves, finding small dignity in observation and memory. Both were made outside mainstream cinema, both trust the audience completely.

Two old friends spend a weekend together in rural Czechoslovakia, and nearly nothing happens. Chytilová finds comedy and longing in silence, in the gap between what people want to say and what they actually do. A film about the weight of time and friendship.

But It's a Czech New Wave film from 1965. It moves at its own glacial pace, and the humor is so dry it can feel like nothing is happening at all.

Dinner at Eight1933

An ensemble comedy that's actually an X-ray of class anxiety and pretense. Like El Super, it's interested in what people *really* want beneath the social performance, with wit and surprising warmth.

But It's a pre-Code Hollywood artifact. The pacing feels stagy, and some of it has aged awkwardly in ways you'll notice.

Requiem for a Dream2000

Four people chasing different versions of happiness in New York, each watching their hope curdle. Formally dazzling but also devastatingly human about ordinary disappointment and the American dream's flip side.

But It's aggressively dark and formally punishing. The repetitive editing becomes part of the emotional assault. Many people find it unbearably bleak.

Bicycle Thieves1948

A man and his son search Rome for a stolen bicycle. Neorealism at its peak—tender, observant, and utterly unsentimental about poverty and dignity. A masterpiece about small men facing large systems.

But It's in Italian, subtitled, and almost seventy years old. The pacing is patient in ways modern cinema trains us to resent.

Monsoon Wedding2001

A sprawling, joyful ensemble film about families, secrets, and tradition. Like El Super, it finds comedy and heartbreak in the exact same moments, and genuine love binding people across distance.

But It's tonally chaotic—swinging between farce and serious trauma in seconds. If you want tonal consistency, you'll find it jarring.

The Wrestler2008

Mickey Rourke as an aging performer watching his body and his relevance fail him. Quiet, unglamorous, and achingly alive to the weight of being ordinary and aging in a city that doesn't care about you.

But It's repetitive by design—same sad patterns, same small humiliations. The repetition is the point, but it can feel exhausting rather than meditative.

This Is England2007

A working-class comedy-drama about youth, belonging, and the moments where community turns toxic. Shifts tone brilliantly between genuine laughs and real menace, with an ear for how people actually talk.

But It's British, regional, and assumes familiarity with 1980s skinhead culture. The slang and context will feel oblique if you're outside that world.

Stalker1979

Both made in 1979, both about men moving through constrained spaces toward something they can't quite articulate. Both treat longing as a philosophy, not a plot device.

Tarkovsky's metaphysical journey through a mysterious zone. It's fundamentally about desire, yearning, and what happens when you get to want what you've always wanted—and that release feels almost unbearable. Hypnotic and existential.

But It's 163 minutes of Soviet science fiction that moves like a glacier. There's no action, minimal plot, and long silences. If you're looking for entertainment, this will feel like punishment.

Memories of Murder2003

A working-class protagonist trying to maintain dignity against systems that diminish him. Both find dark comedy in the spaces where official authority meets ordinary human failure.

A serial killer hunt in 1980s South Korea, but it's really about futility, institutional failure, and the small men trapped inside them. Bong Joon-ho makes it a dark comedy about powerlessness, with moments of real grace.

But It's a crime thriller that refuses to satisfy thriller conventions. The ending won't resolve anything, and the violence, while not gratuitous, is brutal and demoralizing.